That’s my motto when selecting restaurants for many visitors. And there’ve been a lot these past few weeks: friends, relatives, friends of friends, friends of relatives, classmates, fundraisers, writers doing research, travelers taking most excellent tours. We’ve had lunch together, dinner, we’ve been to wine bars, had picnics, stopped for pastries, chocolate, Bertillon sorbet.

“How do you/they stay so thin,” they ask, causing me to suck in my gut, “eating like this all the time?”

Now here’s a secret the food-bloggers won’t tell you: We don’t. At least I don’t.

Paris can be visited as a perpetual all-you-can-eat deluxe buffet but it’s lived as a city with countless venues for a shared meal or drink with friends, colleagues, clients and assorted visitors. Eating well implies choosing well, ordering well, buying well… enjoying good company. There is a form of Parisian self-control in matters of food and drink. One gets a hang of quickly enough. Spending two hours à table doesn’t mean consuming four times the amount of someone who sits for 30 minutes. And we actually eat at home sometimes. We have access to good fresh produce. We walk to shops. We do our 10,000 steps, including frequent staircases. We cook in our little kitchens. We may even exercise, gently.

However, there are times when some combination of visitors, work obligations, journalist events, birthday celebrations and ordinary social life lead me on an extended period of wining and dining. And no matter how much I protest when the dessert menu is handed out, there are quite a few crème brulées, moelleux au chocolat, pies and tarts placed on the table with an extra fork or spoon. “I’ll just have a little taste,” as my grandmother would say.

That period of indulgence can last a few days or a week or, with my most recent schedule of visitors, events and travelers on most excellent tours, a month. Indulgence, however, is not the same thing as overindulgence. Indulgence is a knowing pleasure. Overindulgence is loss of control. Admittedly, there’s a fine line of distinction at times.

A friend, in Paris for business, unsure of which side of the line we were on, said during our third straight high calorie wine-infused meal together, “My wife’s gonna kill me for putting on weight. I’m gonna tell her it’s your fault.”

If shared good living is my fault then guilty as charged. I don’t know what you’re during this afternoon, Scott, but I’m going for a run as soon as I finish this article.

10 Venues for Shared Good Living—Simple Food, Simply Good

What follows is a selection of simple, simply good restaurants and shops that have been on my eating trails of the past few weeks during this most recent bout of shared good living. It’s my food diary of the past few weeks, minus the less appealing, the less well served and the more gastronomic meals consumed along the way.

Simplicity is the theme, meaning relatively straightforward fare, meat and potatoes and the like yet unmistakably French. Some will call this restaurant fare “borrrrring,” others will call it “just what I was looking for.”

All are moderately priced, here meaning 25-50€ for 2 or 3 courses without beverages. All have good to excellent service. None require much, if any, advance reservation, though no harm calling ahead.

1. Le Sully
6 boulevard Henri IV, 4th arr. Metro Sully-Morland.
Tel. 01 42 72 94 80. Closed Sunday.

It’s easy to overlook this daytime café-brasserie (it closes at 8pm) because the intersection out front appears to be a place of transit only and not of pause. But here—between Ile Saint Louis and the Arsenal quarter of the Marais, between old blocks from the Bastille and a statue of the poet Arthur Rimbaud, between an equestrian center for the Republican Guard and the Center for information, documentation and exhibition for urban planning and architecture of Paris—Le Sully is a place with roots. The same family has operated it since 1917 and their roots still run deep into the Aveyron region of central France. Le Sully is old reliable when it comes to enjoying the café-brasserie experience in Paris thanks to the generous spirit of Robert and Dany Vidal and their son Romain and to their sense of quality. Le Sully proudly sports the government label Maitre-Restaurateur, which signifies that dishes are made in house essentially using fresh ingredients. Aubrac rump steak and other nice lunchtime brasserie fare, Languedoc wines. We linger into the afternoon.

2. La Poule au Pot
9 rue Vauvilliers, 1st arr. Metro Louvre-Rivoli
Tel. 01 42 36 32 96 Open 7pm-5am. Closed Mon.
Ever true the bistro tradition, Paul Racat has for 40 years now maintained this relaxed yet classy home for rustic bistro classics, attentively served, and an atmosphere of unpretentious chic that develops as the evening and the night move on. Come the later the better. Soupe gratinée à l’onion, blanquette de veau, white Sancerre. We linger into the night.

3. Boucherie Roulière
6 rue des Canettes, 6th arr. Metro Mabillon or Saint Germain des Près.
Tel. 01 84 15 04 47. Open daily.

Having long associated this street between Saint-Germain and Saint-Sulpice with creperies, pizzarias and pubs, I thought it a bit risky to head here for beef. But the risk paid off: the sliced rib just right, attentive service, elbow-to-elbow seating that offered up a mix of good cheer and Parisian sophistication. Mille feuilles de tomate et artichaut à l’huile de truffe; côte de boeuf, bone marrow and steak fries; Saint-Estèphe (Bordeaux).

4. 750g La Table
397 rue de Vaugirard, 15th arr. Metro Porte de Versailles.
Tel. 01 45 30 18 47. Open daily.

If I lived on the southwestern edge of the city or frequently attended trade shows at Porte de Versailles, I’d be happy to consider Damien Duquesne’s Table my neighborhood restaurant for good chicken, good beef, homey side dishes, much freshness, a judicious wine selection and friendly service. But I don’t, so I consider 750g La Table as a sign that no quarter is immune to honorable food and wine.

5. Les Petites Ecuries
40 rue des Petites Ecuries, 10 arr. Metro Château d’Eau or Bonne Nouvelle.
Tel. 01 48 24 02 90. Open daily.
Walking by on a sunny day, it was the sight of the pleasantly odd alcove lined with a living green wall that gave me pause for coffee. Though suspecting that the place might be too young and hip for the food or service to be anything but an afterthought, I nevertheless returned for dinner with a visiting friend the following evening. And good thing, too: my duck was delicious, my friend enjoyed his steak, we were kindly served and we barely noticed that we were among the oldest ones there.

6. Le Plomb de Cantal
3 rue de la Gaîté, 14th arr. Metro Edgar Quinet.
Open daily.
Why waste your waistline on the meat and potatoes at an ordinary greasy spoon when you can do some delicious gut-busting in this joyful restaurant in the Montparnasse quarter with Auvergne comfort food, from deep in the center of France? Sausage served with aligot (mashed potatoes with cheese and garlic) or truffade (sliced potatoes, cheese, garlic) is king here, but duck, tripes or beef are also options. Hearty salads as well. It’s simple, it’s delicious, it’s caloric, it’s cheerful, it’s Paris without needing to be hip or sophisticated. There’s an extension around the corner and another outlet across the city near metro Strasbourg-Saint Denis, but come evening the greatest joy is on aptly named theater- and restaurant-filled rue de la Gaîté.

7. Terminus Nord  
23 rue de Dunkerque, 10 arr. Metro Gare du Nord.
Open daily.

While the Auvergnats accompany their sausages with cheesy potatoes, brasseries of the north, wonderfully exemplified by this large and brassy restaurant across the street from Gare du Nord (the train station that links Paris with London, Lille, Brussels and Amsterdam), serve theirs with sauerkraut. But upon returning from Amsterdam (Café Loetje for lunch) we came here for the other specialties of northern brasseries: fish (cod, sea bass, salmon, sole) and seafood. A reminder that simple fare, simply good, isn’t just a beefy affair.

8. Le Village Ronsard
47 Ter Boulevard St Germain, 5th arr. Metro Maubert-Mutualité.
Tel. 01 43 25 07 95. Open daily.
There are many like it, but when in this quarter come lunchtime I’ve always felt comfortable at this perfectly, excellently ordinary café-brasserie in the Sesame Street of Paris market areas. Poulet-frites, steak-frites, salads, omelets, etc.

9. Fil’O’Fromage
12 rue Neuve Tolbiac, 13th arr. Metro Bibliothèque François Mitterrand or Quai de la Gare.
Tel. 01 53 79 13 35. Open 10am-7:30pm Mon.-Wed. 10am-10:30pm Thurs.-Sat. Closed Sunday.

Past the loud brasseries, the cavernous cafés and the undesirable restaurants that first assault the rare explorer of the new Rive Gauche quarter of the 13th arrondissement, Clément Chérif Boubrit (“I’m the Sheriff,” he says), philosopher, photographer, cheesemonger, oenologist, operates an off-beat wine and cheese shop and eatery where I recently organized a tasting for a group of eight bloggers/writers. Don’t worry, you needn’t be eight or even organized to enjoy the Sheriff’s approach to tasting wine, cheese and cold cuts vertically, horizontally, blindly or what the hell let’s just share-ingly.

10. My kitchen. Leftovers from last night’s party. Open 7/7, by invitation only.

© 2015, Gary Lee Kraut

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Every French region is passionate about its own cheeses, but as in so many things the Corsicans are just a little more passionate about theirs. It’s said that you can’t understand the island if you haven’t tasted brocciu, a flavorful soft-white fresh cheese made from sheep’s or goat’s milk.

Brocciu season begins in November and continues through June, mirroring the milking season. There’s a bit more than milk in the mix though. Brocciu is the first French AOC cheese to include whey (lactosérum), a byproduct that is usually abandoned when cheese is made.

How do you eat brocciu… aside from every chance you get? Corsican chefs whip it into omelets with a hint of mint, stuff cannelloni with it and even eat it for breakfast. It’s also the key ingredient for the zesty lemon-flavored cheesecake called fiandone.

Chef Vincent Deyres, born on the mainland, is a converted Corsican. Almost everything served at the two Villa Corse restaurants in Paris (one in the 15th, one in the 16th) that he supervises is imported from the island: the fish, the famous charcuterie that comes from chestnut-grazing boar, the chestnut flour to make the bread and of course the brocciu. A highlight of our recent lunch was garganelli pasta with a memorable sauce that blended creamy brocciu with tangy Corsican tome cheese and slices of hazelnut-scented prisutto ham.

But brocciu is not the only winter food draw from Corsica. As of December (and until the weather warms), Villa Corse’s menu features the velvety pork-liver sausage called ficatellu. Deyres gets his directly from Ange Andreucci’s farm in Zéveco.

The three-course lunch is 30€, and a copious main dish comes to 17€50 with coffee. Try a glass of Patrimonio’s dry white Orenga de Gaffory wine, 7€, if you order that amazing pasta. There are two locations – Right and Left Bank – but right now, we suggest the newly redecorated Rive Gauche location in the 15th arrondissement. One of the new amenities is a table d’hôte that seats 12.

La Villa Corse
Rive Gauche: 164 boulevard de Grenelle, 15th arr. Tel: 01 53 86 70 81. Metro La Motte Picquet Grenelle.
Rive Droite: 141 Avenue de Malakoff, 16th arr. Tel: 01 40 67 18 44. Metro Porte Maillot.
Both are closed on Sunday.

© 2013, Corinne LaBalme

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Will Paris Be Modernized or Disfigured?
by Patrice Maire

Ever since he was elected Mayor of Paris in 2001, Bertrand Delanoë has established his popularity though high profile communications with operations such as Vélib, the bike share system, Paris-Plages, the summertime “beach” along the Seine, and a call for the construction of skyscrapers—towers—along the edges of the city.

In 2004 he consulted Parisians on their view of the capital’s urban development: 120,000 people responded and 63% declared themselves to be opposed to the construction of towers. He dropped the idea, particularly since he couldn’t alienate his Green Party allies who were also opposed.

A modernity of thundering rupture with the past

In an opuscule published in 2009, Paris 21e siècle (21st Century Paris), the mayor bellowed that “Paris should know how to impose its modernity in order to maintain its rank.” Indeed, he’s given endless stabs at the Paris landscape. On multiple occasions he has pushed up the height limits in urban regulations: 15 meters (49 feet) higher for architectural signs, unlimited increase for wind turbines, etc. At the end of 2009, he chipped away at the regulated height zone protecting the view of the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Elysées and on Rue de Rivoli by accepting the raising of the Samaritaine [Editor’s note: Samaritaine is a former department store occupying choice real estate between Notre-Dame and the Louvre  and now owned by LVMH and under renovation/reconversion]. Worse still, he obliges developers with a modernity of thundering rupture, a 180° turn-around with respect to the principles of integration in the urban landscape that have always been written in the City Planning Code.

Delanoë and “old stones”

On November 21, 2011, at the Cévennes Gymnasium in the 15th arrondissement, he said that “the image of Paris is not simply to come to see old stones… we expect Paris to be a dynamic city of the 21st century, not of the 18th or the 19th… we ask it to be a city of heritage and in international competition, intellectually and creatively competitive… the city cannot live and breathe if we have this immobile, stiff, stuck vision…”

Architectural language during Haussmann’s time

Hearing these unpleasant words about the physiognomy of Haussmann’s Paris is a reminder that some Parisians repudiate it and even see in a “bourgeois culture.” Needless to say, we appreciate a masterpiece more when we understand the context in which it appeared. That was my goal in publishing in May 2012 Special Issue No. 4 of the journal Monts 14 entitled Le langage architectural au temps d’Haussmann, (Architectural Language During Haussmann’s Time), a document that dares to make the comparison with the Renaissance in Florence, Italy in the 15th century.

The fight against the Triangle Tower

Following the municipal elections of 2008, Mayor Delanoë’s Socialist Party had an absolute majority in the city legislature. He immediately began to push on Parisians plans for skyscrapers at six locations in Paris. On September 25 that year, the Triangle Tower project was presented at City Hall to an audience of dazzled journalists. [Editor’s note: the official website for the Triangle Tower as planned by the architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron can be found here.]

The tower is supposed to make more attractive the Parc des expositions exhibition complex at Porte de Versailles on the southeastern edge of the city (15th arrondissement) by creating hotel rooms, conference halls, a business incubator, etc. In reality, only one large company, of international scope, is interested in occupying space there. Offended at having been left in the dark, Philippe Goujon, mayor (UMP, conservative party) of the 15th arrondissement, declared, “The project disintegrated in my eyes: no hotel rooms, no conference halls, offices for whom?”

Revision of the PLU (Local Urban Plan) for Porte de Versailles

That was before the financial crisis weighed down on the real estate market for office space in 2009. Nevertheless, Anne Hidalgo, Mayor Delanoë’s right hand [Editor’s note: and presumed candidate to replace him in 2014], launched a communications campaign on the theme “Change the image of Paris.”

Two years later, an exhibition about the projected changes took place at the district hall of the 15th arrondissement from June 28 to September 2, 2011. District Mayor Goujon was again in favor of the project. A public inquiry was conducted that fall to gather the comments regarding the proposed development.

During that period, Mont 14 and other associations opposed to the project—Jeunes Parisiens de Paris, ADAHPE, APXV and SOS Paris (the most international and Anglophone of these groups)—formed the Collective Against the Triangle Tower.

Collective Against the Triangle Tower gains traction

These efforts began to bear fruit. Having gathered the observations 300 people as well as 1700 signatures on a petition by Monts 14, the commissioner of the inquiry noted in his official report of April 2012, along with remarks favorable to the tower, three reservations to the project: concerning traffic, the shadow caused by the tower and the partial amputation of the Parc des expositions. In particular, the report asked Mr. Delanoë to justify that the project would not weaken the role of the exhibition complex in terms of international competition.

Indeed, the tower as then planned would amputate from 6000 square meters (65000 square feet) of the exhibition complex’s Hall 1, a unique window to the world for the major French automobile manufacturers during the Automobile Show held here every two years in the fall. In support of the Automobile Show, the Collective Against the Triangle Tower demonstrated at the show’s opening on September 29, 2012. The demonstration made the front page of the newspaper Le Parisien. The newspaper Le Figaro followed suit. Another demonstration, on the occasion of the Boat Show, took place on December 8. This time the Collective was joined by representatives of the political parties MODEM, Jeunes democrats, EELV, Debout la république and Parti de Gauche.

A turning point in the fight

Their presence represents a turning point in the fight. Indeed, there are prejudices that are difficult to combat. Faced with the penury of reasonably priced housing, Parisians often see towers in a positive light. Mr. Delanoë finds it easy to toady to their anxiety by luring them with the promise of mixed-use towers with space for both business and lodging. We have repeatedly remarked that as far as lodging goes such high-rises are expensive to build per square meter and their maintenance costs are excessive (500€ per month for a 3-room apartment in the Olympiades complex on the southwest edge of Paris). Their primary purpose is apparently not to created affordable housing for inhabitants of the city.

Delanoë’s totem

The sole interest for constructing a building such as the Triangle Tower in Paris is its totemic value. A massive building overshadowing the city can have communications value for a large company or for the mayor of Paris. Mr. Delanoë would like to be identified with the totem of the Triangle Tower. However, there’s a far more emblematic vision to consider, that of the Great Boulevards, of stone buildings, of Haussmannian rooftops, of the Galeries Lafayette, of diversity and cultural richness.

It’s the attraction of that vision that explains why Paris is the most world’s most visited city. Such attractiveness is France’s good fortune, but it’s one that risks being wasted. Towers are now commonplace; worldwide, about 15000 towers rise over 100 meters (328 feet). Towers draw our attention like a lightning rod attracts lightning. Building towers would interfere with the Paris skyline and make it commonplace.

Mr. Delanoë has had to regroup following the reservations put forth last year by the commissioner of the inquiry. Still attached to the hotel rooms and convention halls that he had wanted housed in the tower, he’s now looking to build them elsewhere within the same sector. Mr. Delanoë has now launched another public inquiry in an attempt to “modernize” the Parc des Exposition with the creation of hotel rooms and meeting halls. That absolutely does not justify the construction of the Triangle Tower as an office tower!

Let’s refuse to let Paris be disfigured

The Triangle Tower will be voted on by the Council of Paris on the July 18, 2013. If approved, the association Monts 14 will bring the matter before the administrative tribunal on the grounds that this project is not in the public interest. We will then do our part in ensuring that the debate about the physiognomy of Paris is among the major issues of next year’s municipal elections.

Whether you live in France, in the United States or elsewhere around world, we invite all those who love Paris to support this fight by signing the petition found here, writing to the major or to your local representative in Paris, joining an association, attending our debates and demonstrations, and letting it be known that you refuse to let Paris be disfigured.

Patrice Maire
President of Monts 14

Patrice Maire is president of the association Monts 14 and editor of the journal produced by the association. For information about the association and its efforts to halt the construction of the Triangle Tower see www.monts14.com.

Mont 14 is one of the associations that grouped under the banner Collective Against the Triangle Tower. Another among them is SOS Paris, which has many foreign and English-speaking members.

Patrice Maire’s text in France was translated for France Revisited by Gary Lee Kraut, April 2013.

The opinion expressed above is presented to give a sense of the debate surrounding the Triangle Tower and does not necessarily reflect that of France Revisited.

For France Revisited’s introduction to the subject of the Triangle Tower and of other high-rises in Paris read: Paris on the Edge: Does the French Capital Need High-Rises and Towers to Stay Relevant.

The post The Cranky Urbanist: Paris Doesn’t Need the Triangle Tower appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

No, it’s on the edges of the city that Paris is mutating, with accelerated changes due to arrive over the next 15 years. The most marked of these mutations, if Paris City Hall gets its way, would be the construction of a ring of towers around the city, placing the French capital, in the shadow, both literally and figuratively, of high-rises and skyscrapers (mini skyscrapers to start) as never before.

Gustave Eiffel’s tower, completed in 1889 and at 312 meters (1034 feet) then the highest monument in the world, may be the grandfather of skyscrapers, but Paris otherwise kept its head down until the 1960s. While the authorized height limit within Paris remained 37 meters (about 8 stories) or less in some areas, permission was giving in the late 1960s and early 1970s to build a spate of high-rise towers on inner edges of the city, notably in the 13th arrondissement (Olympiades) and the 15th arrondissement (Front de Seine).

But it was the Montparnasse Tower that truly challenged the vision of what the skyline of Paris could be when it rose far beyond the standard height and well within the city limits. Inaugurated in 1973, it stands 210 meters (689 feet) high, two-thirds the height of the Eiffel Tower; it’s a foreboding sight from most angles but it does offer a spectacular 360 degree view from its rooftop. After that, Paris again shied away from towers and instead watched contentedly as business (and some residential) towers took shape at a safe suburban distance to the west at La Defense.

In the past 30 years, the debates about new constructions have largely centered around public projects: Buren’s Columns in the mid-1980s and I.M. Pei’s (and President Francois Mitterand’s) Pyramid of the Louvre in the late 1980s were quickly followed by the pharaonic assault of the BNF National Library, another Mitterand project which opened in 1998, and the Quai Branly Museum, President Jacques Chirac’s lovechild born ugly as sin in 2006 but discrete behind its greenery.  Like them or not, those were all national constructions designed with culture and national (as well as presidential) pride in mind.

Plans are now underway for the construction of towers around the inner edge of the capital. The towers as currently imagined would max out at 180 meters (590 feet), small by skyscraper standards but nevertheless a dramatic change of the skyline of the city. In conceiving them, there is no longer any pretense of cultural or even national pride but rather, according to those in favor of the new towers, of economic development and a certain kind of height-inspired prestige. Paris, for all its tourist appeal and its one-upmanship in terms of food, drink, art and all that is urban luxury, remains a city concerned with housing, office space, economic development, and noise and air pollution—in short, with growth and well-being.

Mayor Bertrand Delanoë (Socialist Party) is full steam ahead regarding the towers, and should the current detract his plans then the 2014 mayoral race in Paris will undoubtedly set for years to come the city’s direction in the construction of towers, with the Socialist Party leading the charge for the construction of towers and the conservative party (UMP) not so sure—or at least preferring to have their own friends in on the deal. (It’s likely, however, that, both major parties cavort with the builders and developers.)

Towers have been on the mayor’s agenda for the past decade. A major step toward their construction was taken in 2010 the City of Paris raised the authorized limit in certain sectors to 50 meters (164 feet, about 11 stories) for apartment buildings and has been flirting with developers for projects for office towers or mixed-use towers of up to 180 meters (590 feet). The first of the new towers benefiting from the new height limit will begin casting their shadows over the next few years.

Now comes plans for the Triangle Building, a 180-meter pyramid designed by the Swiss firm of Herzog & de Meuron (Tate Modern of London, Beijing National Stadium, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum of San Francisco, etc.), whose construction City Hall has been pushing for on the southwestern edge of the city near the Parc des Expositions exhibition complex in the 15th arrondissement. (The architects’ visions of the planned towers can be seen here.)

They mayor’s office has for several years now been arguing for the need for the likes of the Triangle Tower and other high rises along the periphery of the capital, claiming that the economic development, competitiveness and very prestige of the capital are at stake. The yea-sayers allege that refusing the solution of height would mummify Paris. Of the Triangle Tower itself, Mayor Delanoë has said that its profile would not only not disturb the city but would “improve both the beauty and the urbanism of Paris” and the neighboring suburbs of Vanves and Issy-les-Moulineaux.

Yet opposition runs strong, arguing that Triangle Tower in particular is economically unsound, contrary to the public interest, harmful to its neighborhood and visual nuisance.

Seeking to show the point of view of those opposed to the Triangle Tower and, more generally, to the eventuality of a ring of towers around the city, France Revisited offered associations in opposition to the project a tribune to present their views to our foreign readership. Patrice Maire, president of the association Monts 14, itself a part of the  Collective Against the Triangle Tower,  stepped up to the plate. Read that opinion on the construction of the Triangle Tower here.

© 2013, Gary Lee Kraut

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The tethered helium balloon in Parc André Citroën on the southwestern edge of Paris offers a queueless, stepless view of the expanse of the city and of its southern and western suburbs.

You might see the balloon in the sky as you pass the strange, stone stair-boxes at the eastern entrance to the park.

The RER suburban train line C passes this way along the Seine. You’ll see it going by as you rise in the balloon.

The park is in the former village of Javel (hence the name of the nearby metro and RER stations). In the late 18th century a French scientist set up a factory in Javel to manufacture a chlorinated bleaching powder. Because of that, bleach in French is called Javel or eau de Javel. The park, however, honors the 20th-centry industrialist André Citroën (1878-1935).

As the balloon rises and you look up the river you begin to see the top of the Eiffel Tower.

In 1915 the engineer André Citroën set up a factory initially producing shells to supply the army during WWI. After the war he converted the factory to the construction of automobiles. The automobile production facility moved out in the early 1970s and the company headquarters moved out in 1982.

The park now occupies 35-acre site of that site. It’s is a playful city park with fountains and greenhouses, intimate corners and an open lawn, and diverse vegetation.

Thirty adults or more children can go up at once for to 10 minutes of air time, which is sufficient to take in the wide view, including the towers of the suburban business district of La Défense.

With binoculars or a camera you can zoom in for a closer look of the towers rising beyond the woods of the Bois de Boulogne that form western lung of the City of Paris.

The world’s first manned balloon flight blew over Paris in 1783.

The current balloon was installed in Parc André Citroën in 1999. Aérophile, the Paris-based French company that installed this balloon, has also placed tethered balloons in cities and theme parks around the world, including in the United States Disney World (FL), Wild Animal Park (CA), and Conner Prairie (IN).

No, the basket didn’t sway…

I just took angled shots.

It’s actually a smooth ride, just hold onto the railing at take-off and landing.

At 150 meters (492 feet), the full extent of the balloon’s tether, you’ll have view of the full expanse of the low, dense city of Paris framed between the Eiffel Tower on the left and the Montparnasse Tower on the right.

Getting there: Metro 10 or RER C to the Javel station. Or perhaps stop by when returning to the city from Versailles, in which case you can get off at RER C station Boulevard Victor.
For more information: Ballon Air de Paris
Ballooning times: 9 a.m. to 4:30/6:30pm, depending on the season. It’s grounded during adverse weather conditions; if in doubt call ahead at 01 44 26 2o 00 or see the Ballon Air de Paris website.
Price: Adults 10 or 12€, 12-17 years old 9 or 10 €, 3-11 years old 5 or 6€, infants free. Higher price is for weekends and holidays. Little to no wait on most days.

– photo and text, GLK 2011.

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